Saving Secrets: Tips from the Best Coupon Cutters - Page 2

Savvy shopper 2: Michele EasterFor 30 years, Michele Easter of Bountiful, Utah, has been clipping coupons. In that time, the world has changed a lot, but Easter's savings haven't: With coupons, she still routinely cuts 30 to 50 percent off her bill.

The best source for coupons has traditionally been the Sunday paper, says Easter, mother of three and the author of Shop Like a Coupon Queen, but you can also find great deals online. Popular several years ago, Internet coupons all but died out after a rash of counterfeits left stores wary of accepting them. Now they're back and slowly being accepted.

Food coupons on the Web often offer discounts on new or promotional items, but you'll also find them for pantry staples like tea, butter, chips, coffee, juice, cereal, and pet food.

Many coupon sites let you search by product name. Mycoupons.com directs shoppers to sites where they can instantly redeem coupons for online purchases. Valpak.com will customize your coupon search to your zip code, telling you what's on sale with a coupon on a given day in your area. A typical search on this site turns up printable coupons for brand-name pickles, baby food, cereal, and pasta. Valpak.com will also send you alerts via e-mail when new coupons are available in your zip code.

Rebates are Easter's other secret weapon. Rebates and refunds can take $1, $5, or more off the cost of an item  but only if you remember to mail them in.

How to win at rebates:

In the supermarket, keep an eye out for displays that advertise manufacturer's rebates or refunds.

Put your receipts in your purse, not in the grocery bag.

At home, clip the proof of purchase before you stash a rebate product in the cabinet. As soon as all the groceries are unpacked, sit down and do the rebate paperwork. Easter keeps a kit of everything she needs (scissors, pen, envelopes, stamps, mailing labels) in a plastic baggie in a kitchen drawer.

For high-value refunds, photocopy the completed form before you send it in, in case the rebate doesn't show up and you need to contact the manufacturer.

Forgot to pick up a refund form in the store? Check out the manufacturer's Website. You can sometimes find the forms you need and print them out.

Keep a list of rebates you've sent in, with the numbers to call for information. Note how long the company says the rebate will take to arrive; check back if it doesn't show up.

An almost-free Halloween:About $200 worth of candy, cookies, and snacks...practically free! Easter found a coupon for $1 off any two Nabisco products, good for the entire month. The key words: any and month. She cut dozens of copies of this coupon from store circulars. Using the trick of applying the largest value coupon to the least expensive product, she stocked up on snack-size Oreos, Life Savers, Chips Ahoy, and Teddy Grahams that retailed for 50 cents each. "We handed them out for Halloween," she says. "And we were still enjoying leftover candy a year later." All she paid was a tax of $12.

Strategies to save you more:

Buy a freezer. Even a small one will help you make the most of great sales on meats and other perishables.

Stock up after Thanksgiving. There are more food coupons issued in November and December than in any other month. Combined with pre- and post-holiday sales, the end of the year is tops for food savings.

While shopping, scan the shelves above and below eye level. That's where you'll find the cheaper items. If it's looking right at you, it's more expensive.

Join frequent-shopper programs. Store-incentive programs can slice up to 10 percent off your total bill. Join them all!

Mix it yourself. You can pay up to 50 percent more for foods that come with sugar, spices, or sauces already mixed in. And premixed juice costs a hefty 60 percent more than frozen concentrate.

Bigger isn't always cheaper. Sometimes the unit price is the same whether you buy regular size or jumbo.

Skip pricey fortified cereals. They promise 100 percent of the recommended vitamins and minerals  but this isn't your only meal of the day. Stick with a basic cereal and save.

Pick up large bags of frozen vegetables instead of the boxes, which generally cost more per serving.

Don't buy toiletries at the grocery store unless you have a coupon. The price can be 25 percent higher than what you'd pay at the drugstore.

Go with paper plates. Plastic usually costs twice as much.

Price club or supermarket?Most coupon queens insist that food is as cheap or even cheaper at the grocery store  especially if you have double coupons or if you combine your coupons with weekly sales. "The price club advertises chicken at $2.69 a pound like it's a big deal. But when chicken's on sale at my grocery store, I get it for $2 a pound," says Stephanie Nelson. Some shoppers, however, swear by clubs like Costco and BJs for basics like paper goods and seasonal items.